"I'm headed for Purgatory when I die. Heaven won't take me, and Hell is afraid I'll take over." - Tombstone of General J.R. Stone
San Francisco was a mess. Thousands of buildings collapsed or collapsing, glass covering the streets, and a very serious wildlife problem.
"Why are we fighting lions!" A trooper yelled as he fired his rifle
"Because some asshat at the zoo decided that having a full savannah was a good idea!" His sergeant replied.
The San Francisco zoo had -shortly before the war- asked that funding be provided for a full replica of what the African Savannah looked like before the war between Europe and the Middle East. Two hundred lions, four hundred gazelles, seven types of chimp, and a hundred elephants were shipped to the zoo. This wasn't an accurate representation, but it was good enough for the public. Now there were big cats roaming the deserted streets of San Francisco, looking for their next meal.
This meant that the two squads were constantly fighting off lions.
The threat was almost negligible, lions being unable to bite through powered armor, but no one liked having a three to four hundred pound animal jump on them.
"Fire left!" A pack had tried to flank them, but one had yelped after cutting itself on glass. After that, it was only dust.
The squads marched onward, unaware of the eyes that followed them through the city.
Jensen was in a much more serious situation, without any lions, tigers, or bears.
"Oh my!" Exclaimed a scientist when Jensen walked in.
"So this is the gun?" He asked.
"Yes! It is the solarplex multispectrum light amplification and condensation device!"
"Does it work?"
"Oh, yes! Come down to our range and I'll show you!"
Jensen followed the scientist, wondering how much damage something that looked like a toy could do.
"This is a standard military Humvee. Watch what our device can do on its focused setting"
The scientist fired the weapon, and a small stream of light left the barrel.
"I don't see any damage."
"Look closer at the door"
Jensen zoomed in using his augmented eyes. He saw a small hole barely four millimeters wide punched all the way through the vehicle.
"Now watch the wide dispersal beam"
The scientist fired again, this time melting the outer layers of the Humvee's armor.
"Impressive."
"The true genius in this is the solar collector though. It is extremely efficient, with nearly one hundred percent collection! If this was made larger, you could power towns with one or two, and cities with ten! Even now we can run this facility off of one this size"
"Are there any other things your scientists have been doing down here?"
"Not at this facility, no. We were the solar division. There are a few other facilities across America, but I do not know where they are."
"Do you have any idea what they were working on?"
"I heard rumors about a robot project for the moon, but other than that no."
Jensen thought on that for a bit. The E.P.A was just a joke before the war. Professional hippies. But this ray gun was proof that they had larger capabilities than some arms companies and development firms. This was troubling.
The president was currently in a meeting with his advisors over the newest issues in the Enclave's book. Ghouls and refugees.
"I say we kill all of them! You've seen what the ferals are like! All of them will eventually be like that. Killing them on sight is a mercy!"
The president's most ardent anti ghoul advisor was currently ranting again, his hatred for the mutants clear as his hatred for their plight.
"They are ticking time bombs, and not only do they present a future risk, but our own people are in danger near them! They give off radiation like a pie gives smell, and I'll be damned if ghouls turn into another New Plague!" His face was red, and he took a moment to let his throat rest.
The president's scientific advisor spoke up
"The radiation they emit is nowhere near enough to spread the condition, it takes hundreds of rads to do that. I suggest we create special cities for ghouls, away from our normal civilians."
"That isn't good enough! Those rotten motherfuckers will just rise up and hang us with our own rope!"
His social advisor spoke up next
"The current ghoul situation - that is, having them mixed amongst our citizenry- is not satisfactory. Some civilians are starting anti-ghoul groups like the anti-communist ones before the war. We need to stop this before it grows out of hand."
"So little miss communist wants to protect the poor ghouls from the big bad humans. Well fuck you! Those bastards deserve what they get. They are a threat to America and the Enclave, and should be removed as such."
"I am not a communist! I just think that we shouldn't have judged people based on.."
"Based on what? The fact that they hated America?"
"An economic system"
The president was growing tired of the pettiness thrown between the two, and put a stop to it with a fist to the table.
"The ghouls are Americans. They are crippled Americans. Before the war, the bought food at the supermarket, went home, watched Captain Cosmos, and made Apple Pies. I will not hear any more talk of removing them from our settlements, nor of their sub humanity. Now then, you mentioned anti-ghoul groups?"
His social advisor nodded, and looked at the papers arrayed before her.
"Yes sir, a few have sprung up. The largest of them calls itself the "Humanity First" movement, and says that ghouls are only here to take work away from hard working American humans. Obviously this is not true, as we do not have enough people to fulfill all the jobs that need doing."
"What can we do about these groups?"
"Promote them! They have the right Idea. Give these rotten assholes any room and they'll burn us to the ground."
"Definitely not."
"We could have them help with weapon testing, they seem to regrow lost limbs faster than normal humans."
"No."
"Well sir, an effective tactic in the past has been to create joint groups from the conflicting factions, forcing them to learn to work together. Another has been to have the embattled group perform a service that is only suited to them"
"Ghouls are completely resistant to radiation right?"
"We think so sir"
"Whatever happened to West Tek?"
'Their main facility was directly hit by a Nuclear Bomb, sir."
"Was it destroyed?"
"We don't know. It may have simply been damaged, but the radiation would kill anyone who tried to find out."
"Alright, we can send a group to West Tek. They can search the area without fear, and the public will have to thank them for anything they find."
"They'll just take the weapons and use them on us! The most advanced power armor development facility in the country, and you want to give it to some necrified yahoos!"
For all his faults and prejudices, the Military advisor hadn't gotten to his position by being wrong about threats. Mostly.
"So what do we do?"
"We could send some people with them. Give our troops powered armor and some of those gauss guns and let them ensure loyalty."
"So that's it then, we'll send a squad of ghouls and a squad of troopers to check out west point."
"I still don't like this, sir."
"I know you don't."
Another chapter out of my brain, and onto your screens. Enjoy? +43 9+ [\]